WASP-HS

The Disruptive Role of Data and AI in the Life Sciences
2024-09-24 08:00 - 2024-09-25 17:00 (Europe/Stockholm)
Practicalities

Registration

Program

Keynotes

Background

Open Calls

A Joint Conference between DDLS, WASP and WASP-HS

The conference will focus on different aspects of research, where collaboration over scientific domains is essential, and will explore the following topics:
– How data- and AI-driven research is shaping the future of life science– Development of new approaches to human-in-the-loop technologies and their use– The need for studies at the intersection of society, AI, and data driven life sciences
Participants will have the opportunity to network, be inspired by excellent international keynote speakers, and take part of the latest research in Sweden. In addition to plenary keynotes, the program will offer a panel discussion, a poster session and ample time to mingle.

Practical Details

Dates and timesSeptember 24, 12:00 – September 25, 12:30Registration is open from 11:00 on September 24.

Information for registered poster– size of poster 90x 120 cm portrait format– posters can be hung on the 24th of September from 11:00 and should be done by 12:00– poster should be removed after the end of the conference on the 25th. You are responsible for your poster. Forgotten posters will not be saved.
During the poster session 17:15-19 on the 24th of September we would appreciate if you are available by your poster for discussions and questions. During the Magnet mingle on the 25th you are also welcome to be by your poster.

VenueWallenberg Conference Center, Medicinaregatan 20 A, Gothenburg

Registration to the Conference
The registration is closed.

Program

24 September
11:00 Registration opensPosters are to be hung up from 11:00 and should be done by 12:00.
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch
Start of conference
13:00 – 13:15 Opening Program DirectorsChristofer Edling, WASP-HSOlli Kallioniemi, DDLSAnders Ynnerman, WASPChair, Rebecka Jörnsten
13:15-14:00 Keynote speaker Sunduz KelesIntegrative Approaches to Single-Cell Genomics for Personalized MedicineChair, Rebecka Jörnsten
14:05- 14:50 Keynote speaker Ross KingThe Automation of ScienceChair, Rebecka Jörnsten
14:50-15:20 Coffee
15:20-16:20 Project presentation WASP DDLS (4 *15 min)Christopher Sprague, Incorporating Stability Into Flow MatchingBjörn Wallner, Improved protein structure prediction by adding noise at inferenceHedvig Kjällström TBDAlexander Schliep and Pär Mattsson Molecular simulation and machine learning to delineate target binding of therapeutic oligonucleotidesChair, Päivi Östling
16:20-17:05 Project presentation WASP-HS DDLS (3* 15 min)Harald Hammarström, Linguistic Diversity Through the Prism of BiodiversityStanley Greenstein, AI in the Health Care Sector – Legal ChallengesSonja Aits, Mapping the Nexus of Biodiversity, Climate Change, Human Society and Health using Large Language Models and other Data Science ApproachesChair, Stefan Larsson
17:15: – 19:00 Finger food and poster session

25 September
08:30-9:30 Project presentation WASP DDLS (4*15 min)Ingrid Hotz, Tino Ebbers, Characterization and visualization of cardiac spectral imaging dataSebastian Westenhoff, cryoSPHERE: Single-particle heterogeneousreconstruction from cryo EMAndreas Kerren, Visual Analytics for Enhancing Quality and Trust in Genome-wide Expression Clustering and AnnotationMinh Hoang Vu, Anonymization of Data in Precision Medicine ResearchChair, Olli Kallioniemi
09:30-10:45 Magnet mingle including coffeeChair, Rebceka Jörnsten and Christofer Edling
10:45-11:30 Keynote Speaker: Klaus HøyerAll the data from everywhere all at once: data integration, AI imaginaries, and their unpredictable outcomesChair, Christofer Edling
11:30-12:15 Panel on common research challengesSunduz Keles, Ross King, Klaus Hoyer, Andreas Kerren, Tino EbbersModerators, Rebecka Jörnsten and Stefan Larsson
12:15 Closing remarks, Program DirectorsChristofer Edling, WASP-HSOlli Kallioniemi, DDLSRebecka Jörnsten WASP
12:30 Lunch to go

Keynote Speakers

Sunduz Keles

Title: Integrative Approaches to Single-Cell Genomics for Personalized MedicineBio: Dr. Keles obtained her Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of California at Berkeley. After a year-long postdoctoral appointment at UC Berkeley, she joined the Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics and the Department of Statistics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She has twenty years of experience in developing statistical and computational methods for genomics, including serving as an ENCODE PI, and pioneering foundational statistical models for leveraging multi-mapping reads in high throughput sequencing data analysis (ChIP-seq, Hi-C).
Her research interests span developing statistical and computational methods for denoising and signal extraction from sequencing data and modeling of high dimensional data. Her computational approaches led to fundamental contributions on how GATA factors mediate transcriptional regulation in HSPCs and erythroid cells. Dr. Keles is an elected fellow of the American Statistical Association.

Klaus Lindgaard Høyer

Title: All the data from everywhere all at once: data integration, AI imaginaries, and their unpredictable outcomesBio: Klaus Hoeyer is professor of Medical Science and Technology Studies at the Centre for Medical Science and Technology Studies, University of Copenhagen. His research focuses on the links between policy, practice and experience in relations to medical research and clinical practice. In recent years, he has focused mainly on what he calls intensified data sourcing in healthcare and how it interacts with and changes the health services. This research is primarily financed by the European Research Council.

Ross D. King

Title: The automation of scienceBio: Ross D. King did his PhD on applying machine learning to predicting protein structure at the Turing Institute in Glasgow. He has joint positions at Chalmers Institute of Technology, and the University of Cambridge. He is one of the most experienced machine learning researchers in Europe.
His main research interest is the interface between computer science and science. He originated the idea of a ‘Robot Scientist’: integrating AI and laboratory robotics to physically implement closed-loop scientific discovery. His Robot Scientist ‘Adam’ was the first machine to autonomously discover scientific knowledge. His Robot Scientist ‘Eve’ is currently searching for drugs against neglected tropical diseases, and COVID. His other core research interest is DNA computing.

Hedvig Kjellström

Title: Unraveling the secrets of nature’s high-performance fiberBio: Hedvig Kjellström is a Professor in the Division of Robotics, Perception and Learning at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, and also affiliated with Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Swedish e-Science Research Centre, and Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Germany. She received an MSc in Engineering Physics and a PhD in Computer Science from KTH in 1997 and 2001, respectively, and thereafter worked at the Swedish Defence Research Agency, before returning to a faculty position at KTH. Her present research focuses on methods for enabling artificial agents to interpret human and animal behavior. These ideas are applied in the study of human aesthetic bodily expressions such as in music and dance, modeling and interpreting human communicative behavior, and the understanding of animal behavior and experiences. In order to accomplish this, methods are developed for agents to perceive the world and build representations of it through vision.
Hedvig has received several prizes for her research, including the 2010 Koenderink Prize for fundamental contributions in computer vision. She has written around 150 papers in the fields of computer vision, machine learning, robotics, information fusion, cognitive science, speech, and human-computer interaction. She is mostly active within computer vision, where she is an Editor-in-Chief for CVIU, a Program Chair for CVPR 2025, and regularly serves as Area Chair for the major conferences.

Ingrid Hotz

Title: Characterization and visualization of cardiac spectral imaging dataBio: Ingrid Hotz is a professor at Linköping University in Sweden, leading the Scientific Visualization group in the Department of Science and Technology. She holds an M.S. in theoretical physics from Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Kaiserslautern. Hotz has held research positions at the Institute for Data Analysis and Visualization (IDAV) at UC Davis, the Zuse Institute Berlin, and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Since 2015, she has been a professor at Linköping University and was named the Dr. Ram Kumar IISc Distinguished Visiting Chair Professor at the Indian Institute of Science in 2022.
Her research focuses on scientific visualization and topological data analysis, aiming to develop advanced visual analysis tools for complex datasets across various fields, including engineering, physics, chemistry, and medicine. She integrates methods from computer science and mathematics, such as computer graphics and computational topology, with a participatory design approach to ensure practical and relevant solutions.

Tino Ebbers

Title: Characterization and visualization of cardiac spectral imaging dataBio: Tino Ebbers is a professor of physiological measurements at Linköping University, with a focus on cardiac imaging, modeling, and simulation. He holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Twente and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Linköping University. After completing his PhD, he worked at Philips Medical Systems before returning to academia. He also served as a visiting professor at the University of California, San Francisco.
With over 100 publications in leading scientific journals and numerous contributions to international conferences, Tino Ebbers has made a significant impact through his multidisciplinary approach to merging technical research with clinical applications. He is best known for pioneering 4D flow MRI, a breakthrough technology now widely used to study cardiovascular blood flow in both research and clinical settings. His contributions have greatly advanced cardiovascular imaging and led to major innovations in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of cardiovascular diseases.

Background
Since 2021 the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP) and the SciLifeLab and Wallenberg National Program for Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS) are collaborating through joint research projects with the ultimate goal of solving ground-breaking research questions across disciplines.
In line with this, the programs will now host the first joint annual conference, where common research topics are highlighted. Additionally, the increasingly important humanity and societal aspects of the research will be addressed through participation of the WASP-HS program (Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program – Humanity and Society).
WASPDDLSWASP-HS

Open Calls
The conference is an opportunity to find collaborators for the two open calls:
WASP-DDLS: NEST projects https://wasp-sweden.org/calls/call-for-joint-wasp-and-ddls-nests/
WASP-HS-DDLS: Research Initiation Grants for Data-Driven Life Sciences and Society https://wasp-hs.org/open-call-research-initiation-grants-for-data-driven-life-sciences-and-society/

Queering AI
2024-10-02 13:00 - 15:00
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Join us for the WASP-HS Community Reference Meeting (CRM) Queering AI as we delve into a transdisciplinary dialogue focusing on queer perspectives on AI developments, implementations, and discourse. Queer theory offers valuable insights by shedding light on often overlooked perspectives, particularly those at the margins, and exposing the various power imbalances inherent in AI systems. Moreover, it presents an opportunity to critically examine and challenge the fundamental principles underlying contemporary epistemologies of datafication and automation. By engaging with queer theory, we can foster necessary discussions surrounding the potentials and limitations of data-driven technologies across diverse domains such as health, well-being, nature, culture, law, media, and communication.
We look forward to welcoming researchers and representatives from both private and public sectors to this online event taking place on October 2 over Zoom. Save the date in your calendar already now.

Program and Roundtables
Please note that the whole event takes place online via Zoom and is held in English.
13.00 – 13.05 – IntroductionChristofer Edling, Professor of Sociology and WASP-HS Program Director
13.05 – 13.10 – Keynote IntroductionMatilda Tudor, Researcher at the Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala UniversityKarin Danielsson, Associate Professor at Department of Informatics and Director of Humlab at Umeå University
13.10-13.50 – Keynote and Q&A

Keynote title: AI’s Anti-Queer Turn in the Philosophy of KnowledgeKeynote: Daniella Gati, Lecturer in Games & Interactive Media, University of Salford, Manchester, UK.Keynote abstract: This keynote addresses the epistemology of AI, that is, the shift that AI is causing in how knowledge is understood and created. I discuss the underlying statistical notions of how AI constructs and transmits knowledge, and assess these notions from a queer theoretical point of view.

13.50-14.35 – Roundtable discussions

AI, Data, and KnowledgeChair: Daniella Gati, Lecturer in Games & Interactive Media, University of Salford, Manchester, UK.This roundtable invites participants to discuss the different roles of data and algorithm in how AI creates knowledge and shapes our worldview. We ask how queer perspectives, both theoretical and lived, can be used to push AI knowledge production in more equitable and just directions.

Power and TheoryChair: Ericka Johnson, Professor of Gender Studies at Linköping UniversityWe can express our identity through our ways of being in the world, which influences how people categorize us in different contexts—this makes identity performative. However, these performances are shaped by constraints—power dynamics that define what is possible. Different contexts and power structures allow for different types of identity performances. How are performative identities and disciplining power structures interpreted by, and shaped by, AI?

LLMs, Gender, and UsChair: Hannah Devinney, Postoc at the Department of Thematic Studies at Linköping UniversityGenerative AI, such as ChatGPT, have experienced a sharp rise in the past year, opening conversations about – among other concerns – bias, representation, stereotyping, and toxicity. These types of AI-systems are now being applied in a wide variety of context including chatbots, internet search, virtual assistants, predictive text, and wholesale text generation. How will these technologies impact the way we experience, talk about, and perform gender? What stereotypes do we risk (re)entrenching through the use of these AI-systems? Are there ways to leverage these tools to instead mitigate or counter patriarchy and cisnormativity? Who might benefit, and at whose expense? The purpose of this roundtable is to discuss and explore the ways gender, language, and power meet within the context of generative AI.

14.35-14.55 – Joint wrap up for discussionsMatilda Tudor, Researcher at the Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala UniversityKarin Danielsson, Associate Professor at Department of Informatics and Director of Humlab at Umeå University
14.35 -14.55 – Closing remarksChristofer Edling, Professor of Sociology and WASP-HS Program Director

Registration
The registration is closed.

More About WASP-HS Community Reference Meetings
WASP-HS Community Reference Meetings serves as meeting places for the WASP-HS researchers and representatives from private and public organisations. Each meeting has a specially selected theme with the aim of bringing business and research together to expand knowledge and strengthen collaboration. After each Community Reference Meeting a report is published on the WASP-HS website based on the discussions held, including suggestions for future steps on the topics. See previously published CRM reports.

PhD Defense - Assemble Care // Align Data: An Ethnographic Study of Datafication in Swedish Public Care
2024-10-11 13:15 - 15:15
Petter Falk, defends his doctoral thesis “Assemble Care // Align Data: An Ethnographic Study of Datafication in Swedish Public Care”, at Karlstad University.
Abstract
You sit in a quiet room at your local healthcare clinic. Tests are run, assessments made, and your data is woven into the threads of an electronic health record. Or perhaps you find yourself in the social care office, where the social worker listens intently to your concerns, gently nodding as your words are documented as data, one keystroke at a time. Care is assembled as data is aligned. Today, digital data has become a prerequisite for public care. Increasingly, more aspects of who we are as care subjects and what public care does in its practices depend on data, which also normalizes its production, use and utilization. This process is called datafication. This study explores datafication within Swedish public care, focusing on how data emerges and how it affects the subjects of care, as well as the data that is produced, processed, and utilized in public care settings. The research employs an ethnographic approach, rooted in the theoretical framework of assemblage as articulated by Deleuze and Guattari. By examining the practical and socio-technical dimensions of datafication, the study uncovers how small, seemingly inconsequential practices aggregate to influence broader ramifications for care subjects of Swedish public care, and for public welfare in general.
Read full thesis.
Supervisor
Mikael Granberg, Professor of Political Science, Karlstad UniversityJohan Quist, Associate Professor in Business Administration, Karlstad University
Opponent
Lina Dencik, opponent, Professor, Goldsmiths, University of London
Read more about the defence.

AI for Humanity and Society 2024
2024-11-19 12:00 - 2024-11-20 12:00
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Creating Shared AI Futures

The prevailing media narratives often depict a bleak future, marked by escalating conflicts, an impending climate crisis, and the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence. Such depictions can foster a sense of helplessness, making it difficult to envision a way forward. However, it is crucial to challenge this sense of inevitability by exploring alternative, more hopeful scenarios. This is where speculative fiction becomes a valuable tool. It allows us to transcend the constraints of the present, offering a glimpse into diverse futures. By immersing ourselves in these envisioned worlds, we gain perspective on the actions necessary to shape a desirable outcome. These worlds offer an opportunity for the public, industry, and researchers to collaborate in creating diverse and innovative visions.
This is why the forthcoming WASP-HS AI for Humanity and Society 2024 conference is themed “Creating Shared AI Futures.” The conference underscores the significance of such imaginative exercises. It emphasizes the role of speculative narratives in guiding our aspirations for AI development, encouraging us to contemplate and actively shape the kind of future we wish to pursue.
We welcome researchers, representatives from industry, and policymakers to discuss these issues on 19-20 November at Lindholmen Conference Centre in Gothenburg.

Conference Workshops
In conjunction with the WASP-HS conference AI for Humanity and Society 2023, WASP-HS arranges workshops with the intention to foster discussion and exchange ideas. Each workshop is a place for conference attendees with shared interests to meet to develop focused discussions; they are also an opportunity to find people who care about the same issues, questions, and research agendas as you and your research group.

Read more about each workshop and register

Please note that in order to participate in a workshop you must also register for the conference via the event page.

Keynotes

Mark CoeckelberghWASP-HS Guest Professor in Philosophy of Media and Technology at Uppsala University

AI and DemocracyArtificial intelligence raises many challenges for democracy such as disinformation, manipulation, bias and discrimination, polarization and echo chambers, concentration of power, and the digital divide. This talk discusses these risks in the light of the fundamental principles and epistemic basis that underlies (a strong version of) democracy and outlines some routes to mitigate them and build AI and democratic institutions that contribute to the common good.

Annette MarkhamProfessor of Media Literacy and Public Engagement in the Department of Media and Culture at Utrecht University

Challenging the Inevitability of AI Futures: From Speculations to InterventionsHow can we address the uncertainty of AI futures when media and everyday narratives frame the trajectory forward with such certainty? We know from experience that technological disruptions are inevitable. We also know that the interests of big tech companies only incidentally align with community-driven values and needs. The inevitable feeling around AI can seem particularly relentless, as the claims of radical transformation combine with rapid integration of AI into systems across all sectors. All of it seems to outpace human scales of mindful analysis. Having an open-ended or truly exploratory perspective is not as easy as it seems, even when we are aware that there’s something deeply flawed in the incessant reminders that we cannot veer from the course. Not only is there little room for novel imaginaries, the power of anticipatory and trajectory logics can actually shut down efforts to “think otherwise,” through the processes of discursive closure. What opportunities and techniques can shift this dynamic? In this talk, Annette Markham discusses how creative speculative thinking models can work to specify and elaborate proactive imaginaries for AI Futures, and can highlight ethical problems and accountabilities, as well as the possibilities. Speculation alone is not adequate, however. To move to the next step in building ethical shared AI futures is involves actualizing these imaginaries, at the level of practice, communities, manifestos and mission statements. Shifting from speculation to intervention requires transdisciplinary work to nurture iterative cycles of speculative thinking, design and action, and reflection. This is enhanced by experimentation and playful mindsets, as well as continuous and deliberate critical analysis of trajectorist logics, which can combat the inertia embedded in existing discourses of inevitability.

Conference Program

November 19
08:15 – 12:00 Pre-conference workshopsAt Gothenburg University (Hus Patricia. Forskningsgången 6)Registration opens at 08:15, check with your workshop host to see when your workshop starts
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch
13:00 – 13:05 Welcome and introductionChristofer Edling, WASP-HS Program DirectorAnna Foka, Professor in Digital Humanities at Uppsala UniversityJonas Ivarsson, Professor in Informatics at the University of Gothenburg
13:05 – 14:00 Keynote, AI and DemocracyMark Coeckelbergh, WASP-HS Guest Professor in Philosophy of Media and Technology at Uppsala University
14:00 – 14:30 Lightning Talks– Dealing with Agency and Agenc-ing in Machine Learning AssemblagesFrancis Lee, Associate Professor the Department of Science, Technology and Society, Chalmers University of Technology– AI as Existential Media: Biometrics, Automation and the Human ConditionAmanda Lagerkvist, Professor of Media and Communication Studies at the Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University– Interaction and AI in MotionMathias Broth, Professor of Language and Culture, Linköping University– People, Places, and Prototyping Drone UseSara Ljungblad, Associate Professor in Interaction Design, Chalmers University of Technology
14:30 – 15:30 Breakout Sessions over CoffeeParticipants will have the opportunity to discuss each topic with the lightning talk speakers over coffee.
– Dealing with Agency and Agenc-ing in Machine Learning AssemblagesFrancis Lee, Associate Professor the Department of Science, Technology and Society, Chalmers University of Technology– AI as Existential Media: Biometrics, Automation and the Human ConditionAmanda Lagerkvist, Professor of Media and Communication Studies at the Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University– Interaction and AI in MotionMathias Broth, Professor of Language and Culture, Linköping University– People, Places, and Prototyping Drone UseSara Ljungblad, Associate Professor in Interaction Design, Chalmers University of Technology
17:00 – Meet at Universeum (Södra Vägen 50)A visit to Universeum for those who have registered for it.Seminar at Wisdome Gothenburg – Sweden’s largest visualization dome – and a mingle session.

November 20
09:00 – 09:30 AI in Education: Exploring Participatory MethodsJohan Lundin, Professor in Informatics at the Department of Applied IT, University of GothenburgMarie Utterberg Modén, Fil. Doctor in Applied IT, University of Gothenburg
09:30 – 10:30 Coffee and Breakout Sessions: Future of AI Reflections
10:30 – 11:30 Keynote, Challenging the Inevitability of AI Futures: From Speculations to Interventions Annette Markham, Professor of Media Literacy and Public Engagement in the Department of Media and Culture at Utrecht University
11:30 – 12:00 Wrapping up, ‘ Governance in the Age of AI: navigating the AI paradox’Virginia Dignum, Professor in Responsible AI, Umeå University

Registration
The registration is closed.

Conference Chairs

Jonas Ivarsson
Professor in Informatics at the University of Gothenburg

Anna Foka
Professor in Digital Humanities at Uppsala University

Winter Conference 2025
2025-02-05 08:00 - 2025-02-07 17:00
About

Exchange

Posters

Workshops

Program

Registration

This year’s conference will be at Aula Magna, Stockholm University on February 5-7. It will be filled with workshops, poster presentations, and interactive discussions, with ample opportunity for networking. We would like to thank Stockholm University for hosting the conference. With their generous support we have been able to expand the it to the entire WASP-HS community, PhD students, supervisors, PIs. A few sessions (marked with * in the program below) will also be open to the general public.
Please join us and contribute to the conversation!

Annual WASP-HS Exchange
Democracy and/in the Autopilot: A Conversation on Power, Policy and Data in Public Autonomous Systems
This year, WASP-HS will host the first annual WASP-HS Exchange. We look forward to a conversation between an internationally renowned guest researcher and a WASP-HS researcher on innovation policy and autonomous vehicles.

Speakers

Mark FaganLecturer in Public Policy and former Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School

Petter FalkPhD in Political Science at Karlstad University

Hannah Pelikan (moderator)Postdoctor at the Department of Culture and Society, Linköping University

Poster sessions for all
Come and see the most recent PhD project results and give your feedback and contribute with your insights.
Please download and use the poster template for the poster session.Download poster template (.pptx)

Workshops for PhD students
PhD Students can choose to partake in one of six interactive workshops. Read more about each workshop via the following links.
Focus Group on Gricean Maxims of Conversation and XAIModerator: Leila Methnani, PhD student at the Department of Computing Science, Umeå University
Recoding Responsibility: Rethinking Liability for Trust and Harm in AI SystemsModerators: Samuel Carey, PhD student in Law at Stockholm UniversitySarah de Heer, PhD student at Faculty of Law, Lund UniversitySonia Bastigkeit-Ericstam, PhD student in Civil Law at Stockholm UniversitySubhalagna Choudhury, PhD student at the Department of Business Studies at Uppsala University
The Data Puzzle: A Moment of Collaborative InterpretationModerator: Charlotte Högberg, PhD student in Technology and Society at Lund University
Framing AI: Discourse and Politics of AIModerators: Johannes Geith, PhD student at theDepartment of Political Science, Stockholm UniversityEmelie Karlsson, PhD student at the Department of Government, Uppsala UniversityIgor Ryazanov, PhD student at the Department of Computing Science, Umeå University
Meaningful Materialities for Social RoboticsModerators: Rachael Garrett, PhD student at the Division of Media Technology and Interaction Design, KTH Royal Institute of TechnologyDominika Lisy, PhD student at the Department of Thematic Studies, Linköping University
Shaping Future Generations of Critical Thinkers with Educational RobotsModerator: Pablo Oliveras, PhD student at the Division of Speech, Music and Hearing at KTH Royal Instiitute of Technology

Program

Wednesday, February 5
09:00—12:00 Workshops for PhD studentsSpelbomskan: Recoding Responsibility: Rethinking Liability for Trust and Harm in AI Systems
Mimer: Shaping Future Generations of Critical Thinkers with Educational Robots
Polstjärnan: The Data Puzzle: A Moment of Collaborative Interpretation
12:00—13:00 Lunch. PhD students prepare for poster session(The Gallery, in Aula Magna)
13:00—15:00 WASP-HS Annual Exchange*(in V. Hörsal, Aula Magna)
15:00—15:30 Coffee(the Gallery)
15:30—17:30 Supervisor Meeting “What can the WASP-HS graduate school do better?”(Bergmannen in Aula Magna)15:30—17:30 From PhD to PostDoc/PhD Student Council(V. Hörsal in Aula Magna)
19:00 Conference dinner with PhD certificate ceremony(Wenner-Gren Center)

Thursday, February 6
9:00—12:00 Poster sessions by PhD students*(The Gallery in Aula Magna)
12:00—13:00 Lunch(in Aula Magna)
13:00—17:00 Workshops for PhD studentsSpelbomskan: Focus Group on Grecian Maxims of Conversation and XAI
Mimer: Meaningful Materialities for Social Robots
Polstjärnan: Framing AI: Discourse and Politics of AI

Friday, February 7
9:00—11:00 WASP-HS Project Highlights*Kristina Höök, Pontus Strimling, and Jonas Tallberg will present their work.(in Hörsalen E4 i Södra huset)
11:00 End of conference

*Open to the public! No registration is needed for these sessions.

Registration
The registration is closed.

PhD Defense – Essays on Women in the Labor Market: Technology, Inequality, and the Future of Work
2025-02-07 13:15 - 17:00
Malin Backman defends her doctoral thesis, “Essays on Women in the Labor Market: Technology, Inequality and the Future of Work,” at Uppsala University.
Abstract
Essay I: I study how digital skill requirements affect the gender composition of new hires in female-dominated administrative occupations in Sweden from 2006 to 2016. I track the prevalence of digital skill requirements in Swedish vacancy ads and analyze the gender composition of new hires through a matching process using Swedish register data. I also examine changes in age composition and its interaction with gender. Although men are overrepresented among computer-related educational fields and occupations, I find that the share of women has not decreased, despite a significant increase in digital skill requirements. Using employer fixed effects, I observe an increase in female hires ages 36-50 for ads that specify digital skill requirements. This may be due to the fact that increased exposure to technology increases the complexity of tasks, resulting in a higher demand for skilled workers, which are predominantly women in female-dominated occupations.
Essay II: I study the effects of robot and software technology exposure on the evolution of the gender wage gap in cities across the US from 1980 to 2010. Technology exposure, measured via task-replacing patents, has reduced labor demand in primarily maledominated occupations. Consequently, the gender wage gap declined more in cities with high employment shares of exposed occupations. Moving from the 25th to the 75th percentile of city-level software exposure explains approximately 15% of the average decline in the gender wage gap in the sampled cities. The city-level association between robot patent exposure and changes in the gender wage gap is lower and less robust, possibly due to lower average wages for robot-exposed occupations. I perform a tentative analysis of AI-exposed occupations and show that AI patents are mostly related to tasks performed in male-dominated occupations high up in the wage distribution.
Essay III: (with Ola Andersson, Niklas Bengtsson, and Per Engström) Previous research suggests that student evaluations of teacher performance are biased against women. We test this hypothesis on economics students in a randomized, double-blind experiment, set up in a natural educational setting. During the Covid-19 pandemic, teaching assistants moved online and answered questions through email instead of on campus. We randomly assigned a male or female name to the instructions given by the online teachers. Importantly, the teachers actually responding to the questions did not know if they interacted with the students as male or female, which is a novel contribution to the literature. The course evaluation asked students to rate the mentors’ helpfulness, knowledge, and response time. The results show no bias against the female mentor in any dimension. Our confidence interval around the zero effect does not overlap the effect sizes reported in highly influential previous studies.
Read full thesis.
Supervisor
Oskar Nordström Skans, Professor of Economics, Uppsala UniversityArizo Karimi, Associate Professor at the Department of Economics, Uppsala University
Opponent
Kristiina Huttunen, Associate Professor at Economics Department, Aalto University
Read more about the defense.

PhD Defense – Interactions with Pseudo-Sapiens: User Perception of Anthropomorphism, Mind, and Trust in Humanlike Social Agents
2025-02-14 09:00
Kashyap Haresamundram, defends his doctoral thesis “Interactions with Pseudo-Sapiens: User perception of anthropomorphism, mind, and trust in humanlike social agents”, at Lund University (LTH).
Abstract
Advancements in AI and Robotics have made it possible, at least to some extent, for technology to interact with humans in humanlike ways, such as being able to use natural language. Some of these technologies have rapidly overtaken the consumer market in the form of services such as ChatGPT, which in 2022 became the fastest growing user-base in history by acquiring 100 million users within two months of launching. Beyond chatbots, several consumer products such as personal assistant “smart” speakers like Amazon Alexa or Apple Siri and personal robots such as Amazon Astro have been available to consumers for some time now. The common thread between these products is their use of “humanlikeness” of their appearance or behaviour (or both) to facilitate interaction. Humanlikeness in technology design, in one sense, is not new, however, interaction with technologies that explicitly resemble or mimic humans is rapidly developing in ways that have previously been unachievable. Research in interaction with such technologies is essential to understand how these technologies impact humans in interaction and society at large. This thesis takes a user-centred focus on such technologies and examines interaction with humanlike social agents, with a focus on user perception of anthropomorphism, mind and trust in them. The thesis is comprised of a compilation of research articles that each examine interactions with different types of agents, such as robots, chatbots and voice assistants, particularly contrasting embodied agents with disembodied agents, and text-based agents with voice-based agents, in order to study the effect of humanlikeness on the perception of the agent in interaction. Employing video-based methods, the thesis finds that users may be less likely to form trust perceptions regarding an agent based on its humanlike physical or behavioural characteristics compared to its performance. Additionally, users broadly perceive agents to possess similar “mind” to one another irrespective of their physical or behavioural traits, with this “mind” being distinct from that of humans or other biological agents. The thesis advocates for further research on humanlikeness, collectively referring these agents as “Pseudo-Sapiens”. Read full thesis.
Supervisor
Larsson, Stefan, Supervisor Heintz, Fredrik, Assistant supervisor, External person Torre, Ilaria, Assistant supervisor, External person
Opponent
Assistant Professor Minha Lee, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands Read more about the defense.

Workshop: Girls Just Want to Have Sc(AI)ence—Part 1
2025-03-18 12:30 - 15:30
Creating a Research Network to Foster Women’s Partcipation in Technoscience
Please note that this event is independently organized by a WASP-HS researcher and not the WASP-HS Program Office.
While feminist approaches to technoscience are getting increasing attention, the HRI/AI/HCI fields are still male-dominated. Similarly, new technologies, from assistive robots to chatbots, are often imbued with the same intrinsic gender and ethnic stereotypes and biases present in our western society. An increasing number of scholars have thus called for a “feminist reboot” praising more ethical, sustainable and inclusive research practices and epistemologies.
Welcome to the workshop series Girls Just Want to Have Sc(AI)ence, organized by WASP-HS Assistant Professor Valentina Fantasia. This series aims to foster knowledge on critical and feminist approaches to technoscience. By engaging scholars from various disciplines who work with AI, the workshops will encourage discussion, reflection, and imagination on how feminist tools and theories can be used to design and implement AI technology that reflects collective societal values, considering ethics, diversity, and equality. To achieve this, the series will consist of five hands-on sessions, each featuring a keynote presentation followed by group discussions.
Practical Information
The workshop is arranged in a hybrid format on 18 March, 2025– 12.30 to 13.20: Hybrid lecture on zoom– 12.30 to 15.30: On-site lecture plus workshop in SOL:A129b, Helgonabacken 12, Lund, Sweden
Invited speaker: Ericka Johnson, Professor at Linköping University
Program
12.30 – 13.20: Keynote by Ericka Johnson, Professor at Linköping University, hybrid.This talk will share some practical steps people can take in scientific work-environments – especially but not limited to academic ones – to nurture and draw on the benefits of diversity and inclusion. We will discuss concrete recruitmentand evaluation tips, but also explore about how scientific practices and production can be changed to be more inclusive – and thereby also more relevant.
(Coffee break)
13.45-15.15: Hands-on workshopHere, participants will be invited to share their own research practices and discuss how to use tools and theories from feminist approaches to design and implement more ethical, diverse-oriented and equality-driven research.On-site participation, also open to the public but pre-registration is required.
Registration
Please register for the event to participate.
Register for the workshop.

PhD Defense – The Imaginaries and Politics of Welfare Technology: Renegotiating Elder Care Through Technology for an Ageing Population
2025-03-20 09:00 - 16:30
Maria Arnelid defends her doctoral thesis, “The Imaginaries and Politics of Welfare Technology: Renegotiating Elder Care Through Technology for an Ageing Population,” at Linköping University. Click here for a link to DIVA, with more information about the dissertation. Click here for a link to the event page at Linköping University.
Abstract
In Sweden, a particular class of technology is imagined as a solution to an ageing population. “Welfare technology” is used in politics and policy documents to describe technology aiming to improve welfare through increased safety, activity, participation, and independence for those with (or who risk developing) disabilities. The thesis focuses on welfare technology in elder care where it is used to, for example, administer medicine, watch over people when they sleep, and provide company through touch and conversation. The development and implementation of welfare technology is explored in two contexts: municipal care organizations and robotics research. The thesis analyzes the sociotechnical and robotic imaginaries informing the development and implementation of welfare technology and how they are materialized in the decision-making practices of municipal care organizations and robotics research. It also analyzes how ideals and practices of care and care work are renegotiated through the development and implementation of welfare technology, and what this implies for the organization and valuation of elder care in Sweden. The analysis shows tensions between how different actors imagine the promises of welfare technology, and between imaginaries of welfare technology for elder care and the characteristics and limitations of the organizations and technologies they rely on to materialize. It also points to how the development and implementation of welfare technology renegotiates ideals and practices of care away from an emphasis on human contact toward independent and remote care, mobilizing a fragmenting logic where elder care is explored for potentially delegable tasks. Finally, the thesis argues that discussions on how to maintain elder care provision in light of an ageing population cannot zoom in on welfare technology but need to make elder care a priority in more ways than as an opportunity for innovation.
Supervisor
Katherine Harrison, Associate Professor at Linköping University Ericka Johnson, Professor at Linköping University
Opponent
Nete Schwennesen, Professor at Roskilde University.

PhD Defense – Enjoying the Fall - The Normalisation of the Far-Right as an Algorithmically-Mediated Fantasy of Ontological (In)Security
2025-03-28 10:15 - 12:15
Pasko Kisic Merino defends his doctoral thesis, “Enjoying the Fall – The Normalisation of the Far-Right as an Algorithmically-Mediated Fantasy of Ontological (In)Security” at Karlstad University. Click here for a link to DIVA, with more information about the dissertation. Click here for a link to the event page at Linköping University.
Abstract
Over the past decade, the far-right has become normalised globally. The tolerance of these ideologies challenges the weakened modern liberal order, signifying its limitations as modernity’s symbolic authority. This phenomenon involves an unprecedented ontology in which fantasies of “stolen” ethnocultural wholeness and supremacy propagate through social media governed by neoliberal imperatives of attention hoarding. Fantasies of self-continuity amidst crises – ontological security – are diffused via social media, whose algorithmic governance of our everyday shapes identities and experiences of the political. This problem points to the pressing need to explore the psycho-political and techno-mediatic dimensions of far-right normalisation. This thesis provides a novel perspective by mobilising Lacanian ontological security to investigate the role of these dimensions in normalising the far-right in four levels. It analyses the role of White supremacy and deglobalisation in shaping othering fantasies; traditional and social media’s roles in conveying far-right actors as legitimate interlocutors; the mainstream right-wing’s enjoyment of far-right fantasies; and the algorithmic governance of far-right normalisation as a fantasy reinforcing neoliberalism and eroding liberal democracy.
Opponent
Jason Glynos, Professor at University of Essex.

PhD Defense – Modeling Norms for Social Simulations: Increasing Realism in Social Simulations to Support Decision Makers in Their Decision Making
2025-04-04 09:00
Christian Kammler defends his doctoral thesis, “Modeling norms for social simulations: increasing realism in social simulations to support decision makers in their decision making” at Umeå University.
Abstract
It is very challenging for policymakers and other decision makers to make any kind of decision on a new policy, as the reaction of a person to that policy (policy as one form of a norm) in a given situation is highly individual and based on their own subjective perspective. This becomes even more challenging in environments with a high degree of uncertainty (as is usually the case for policymakers).
Social simulations are a powerful tool for policymakers and other decision makers to support them in their decision-making process. To build agent-based social simulations that provide this support two main challenges exist: norm (policy) realistic behavior and the usability of the simulation.
Norm realistic behavior includes differentiated norm engagement as well as seeing norms as more than just restrictions on behavior. Situated norm engagement means that people react differently to norms and focus only on the parts that are relevant for them. Seeing norms as more than just restrictions on behavior means that people can also violate norms and be motivated to circumvent norms. To address these two parts, we formalize different perspectives on norms and develop a novel agent deliberation architecture, called the Perspective-Based Agent Deliberation Architecture (PBADA) that can represent different perspectives on norms. Another key element of our agent deliberation architecture is that norms are explicit objects.
Having norms as explicit objects is crucial for addressing the challenge of usability of the simulation. It allows policymakers to modify them interactively in the simulation. In general, we see usability as empowering the policy maker to use the simulation in a – for them – meaningful way. Policymakers need to understand how a norm (policy) is influencing the behavior of the agents and in what way. Furthermore, policymakers need to be able to modify existing norms and add new ones on the fly. This requires interaction tools and visualization capabilities necessary to support them in this process. To address this challenge, we present preliminary work on such an interaction tool.
Read full thesis.
Supervisor
Frank Dignum, Professor at Department of Computing science, Umeå University
Opponent
Javier Vázquez-Salceda, Professor at Department of Computer Science, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech, Spain
Read more about the defense.

PhD Defense – How to Build Nice Robots: Ethics from Theory to Machine Implementation
2025-04-26 10:00 - 17:00
Jakob Stenseke defends his doctoral thesis, “How to build nice robots: Ethics from theory to machine implementation,” at Lunds University. Click here for a link to the dissertation. Click here for a link to the event page at Lund University.
Abstract
This thesis investigates morality from a computational perspective by examining how machines can be developed with capacities for moral reasoning and action. It addresses how to overcome interdisciplinary boundaries between moral philosophy and computer science (Paper I), proposes a virtue-theoretic framework for artificial moral cognition (Papers II and III), and highlights issues of using normative ethics in moral machine design (Paper IV). Additionally, it analyzes how ethical decision-making is enabled and constrained by computational resources (Paper V) and explores artificial moral agency – first through an examination of Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun (Paper VI), and then by proposing a theory that bridges capacity-based and practice-based approaches (Paper VII). The work unfolds along two main threads: Practically, it argues that moral machines should be developed ‘bottom-up’, with careful attention to the moral and non-moral aspects of the human practices in which they are meant to operate. Theoretically, it demonstrates that a computational approach to morality offers exciting opportunities to integrate diverse interdisciplinary insights, thereby enriching our understanding of morality itself. Taken together, this work provides a smorgasbord of challenges and possibilities for moral machines, underscoring the need for interdisciplinary collaboration, technical feasibility, and grounding in human practice.
Supervisor

Björn Petersson
Christian Balkenius
Ylva von Gerber
Trond Arild Tjøstheim

Opponent
Vincent Müller

En ny regulatorisk verklighet? Perspektiv på AI-juridiken i praktiken
2025-04-29 13:00 - 15:30
Om

Program

Medverkande

Anmälan

Mer

Det senaste decenniet har EU lagstiftat på en mängd olika områden som alla har bäring på hur teknik av olika slag skapas och hanteras. Få branscher och sektorer undgår effekterna av de nya reglerna, oavsett om det handlar om offentlig eller privat verksamhet. Ambitionen har varit att stärka grundläggande rättigheter (integritet och dataskydd) samt söka få datadriven teknik att tjäna både allmänna och kommersiella värden. Idag måste alla, oavsett bransch, förhålla sig till vitt skilda regelverk såsom GDPR, AI-förordningen, Data Act, Data Governance Act, Digital Services Act och Digital Markets Act. Denna regulatoriska utveckling sker dock samtidigt som utvecklingen i USA har medfört en stark efterfrågan på avreglering och/eller offentliga investeringar för ökad europeisk konkurrenskraft. Under tiden fortsätter tekniken att utvecklas.
I detta samverkansmöte önskar vi lyfta frågor som dagens situation gett upphov till. Välkommen att tillsammans med forskare, experter och praktiker samtala om bl.a. följande: Spelar alla nya regleringar någon roll i att vi i EU hamnat på efterkälken? Är kostnaderna för att leva upp till regelverkens krav proportionerliga till målen? Vilka möjligheter finns att hantera rättsläget genom avtal idag? Vilken roll ska juridiken spela i framtidens EU, ska den t.ex. främst slå vakt om etablerade institutioner eller om konkurrenskraften?
WASP-HS Community Reference Meetings (CRMs) riktar sig till både offentliga och privata organisationer i Sverige. Syftet med mötena är att ge er en chans att ta del av aktuella frågor samt att WASP-HS ska få möjlighet att presentera de senaste forskningsrönen inom programmet. Målet är att tillsammans identifiera nya samarbetsmöjligheter över olika sektorer. Detta specifika möte fokuserar på hur den nya regulatoriska verkligheten inom EU påverkar AI och teknik i praktiken.

Program
13.00-13.10 Välkommen och inledningAnna-Sara Lind, professor i offentlig rätt, Uppsala universitet, WASP-HS
13.10-13.25 Keynote 1Patrick Joyce, Chefsekonom, Almega
13.25-13.40 Keynote 2Andreas Kotsios, jur. dr i Europarätt, Uppsala universitet, WASP-HS
13.40-13.50 Frågor
13.50-14.35 Rundabordssamtal med deltagarna på platsInkl. fika
14.35-15.20 PanelsamtalMalou Larsson Klevhill, docent i civilrätt, Uppsala universitet, WASP-HSDavid Törngren, rättschef, IntegritetsskyddsmyndighetenSofia Edvardsen, partner, Sharp Cookie AdvisorsHelena Eriksvik, Chief Privacy Officer, EricssonModerator: Carolina Brånby, jurist, Svenskt Näringsliv, styrelseledamot WASP-HS
15.20-15.30 Nästa steg och avslutningAnna-Sara Lind, professor i offentlig rätt, Uppsala universitet, WASP-HS

Medverkande
Keynote speakers

Patrick JoyceKeynote 1,Chefsekonom, Almega

Andreas KotsiosKeynote 2,jur. dr i Europarätt, Uppsala universitet

Paneldeltagare

Malou Larsson KlevhillDocent i civilrätt, Uppsala universitet

David Törngren,Rättschef, Integritetsskydds-myndigheten

Sofia Edvardsen,Partner, Sharp Cookie Advisors

Helena Eriksvik,Chief Privacy Officer,Ericsson

Carolina Brånby,Moderator,Jurist, Svenskt Näringsliv

Anmälan
Anmälan är stängd.

Arrangerande grupp
Carolina Brånby, Jurist och policyansvarig på Svenskt Näringsliv.Anna-Sara Lind, Professor i offentlig rätt vid Uppsala universitet.Magnus Strand, Forskningsledare inom handelsrätt vid Uppsala universitet samt redaktör för Europarättslig tidskrift (ERT).

PhD Defense – Formal methods for verification in human-agent interaction
2025-05-05 13:00 - 17:00
Andreas Brännström, defends his doctoral thesis “Formal methods for verification in human-agent interaction“, at Umeå University.
Abstract
Formal verification is essential for ensuring that systems behave according to their mathematical specifications. However, applying formal verification to human-agent interactions presents unique challenges due to the dynamic nature of human mental states and behaviors. Unlike traditional verification tasks, which focus on ensuring correctness in a well-defined action space, this work addresses reasoning over beliefs, intentions, and emotions that evolve through interaction. Two main contributions are introduced: (1) Belief Graphs for modeling mental state dynamics, and (2) the integration of these with formal dialogue games for verifying strategies and influence. To this end, the developed verification methods are rooted in two main pillars: psychological theories formalized to represent mental state dynamics as logical frameworks, and Non-Monotonic Reasoning (NMR) methods, including techniques such as Formal Argumentation and Answer Set Programming (ASP). By modeling mental dynamics as states and transitions in a layer atop the action space—referred to as the Belief Graph methodology—we are provided a tool for modeling context and context dynamics that supports counterfactual, forward and backward reasoning about mental states and behaviors. By incorporating Belief Graphs into formal dialogue games we gain mathematical frameworks for analyzing and verifying agent beliefs, intentions and strategies, thereby enabling the verification of human-agent interactions.Whether it concerns potentially harmful human behaviors—such as malicious activities on social media—or intelligent systems that interact with humans, such as chatbots that are increasingly capable of influencing users’ emotions, thoughts, and decisions—there is an urgent need for formal verification methods to ensure safe and reliable human interactions in digital communication.The proposed methods have been evaluated through formal analysis, case studies, and published peer-reviewed research.
Read full thesis.
Supervisor
Juan Carlos Nieves Sanchez, Docent in theoretical foundations for artificial intelligence
Read more about the defence.
Opponent
Stefania Costantini, Professor at University of L’Aquila, Italy.

PhD Defense – Proactive Balancing: AI-driven Video-based Active Assisted Living Technologies and Balancing of Interests
2025-05-06 10:00 - 13:00
Maksymilian M. Kuźmicz, defends his doctoral thesis “Proactive Balancing: AI-driven Video-based Active Assisted Living Technologies and Balancing of Interests”, at Stockholm University.
Abstract
This thesis aims to propose a method of balancing and identify appropriate legal tools of balancing in the context of AI-driven video-based Active Assisted Living (AAL) technologies. AAL represents a suite of technologies integrated into computer systems that leverage AI to assist older adults in their daily lives, enabling them to live independently and remain active. While numerous studies assert that AAL technologies keep improving their ability to assist individuals in need, this optimistic prospect must be juxtaposed to several concerns. These concerns are often conflicts of interests, i.e., situations in which pursuing one interest may hinder another. Conflicts of interest can be approached in many ways, one of which is balancing. That presents an issue of balancing as a conflict management tool in the AAL context. In the legal context, the problem is more specific: What is balancing, and how could it be used to prevent or solve conflict? Consequently, the main subject of this book is structuring balancing as a legal method of conflict management in the AAL context. The investigation focuses on European law and AAL deployed at private homes. The thesis begins by identifying stakeholders and their primary interests. Next, the work proposes to merge the risk identification method with a dogmatic analysis of law to provide a method of identification of potential conflicts. Subsequently, the book presents two main approaches to balancing recognised in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union: proportionality and compromising. Each method is analysed and presented in a structured way, tailored to the AAL context. Building on these findings, a catalogue of legal tools for balancing is constructed. Finally, the thesis examines the possibility of an integrated model of balancing, proposes how it could be constructed, and evaluates its potential role as risk and quality management systems required by the AI Act. This thesis makes contributions to the field of legal sciences by examining the concept of balance, methods of balancing,and generating a catalogue of balancing tools. Moreover, it advances the research on AAL technologies by proposing a novel stakeholders’ classification that merges analytical categorisations with those grounded in legal frameworks and identifying balancing tools applicable in the AAL context. Furthermore, it proposes possible models of risk and quality management systems under the AI Act.
Read full thesis.
Supervisor
Peter Wahlgren, Professor
Lianne Colona, Professor
Opponent
Professor Tobias Mahler, University of Oslo, Norway.

Workshop: Girls Just Want to Have Sc(AI)ence – Part 2
2025-05-08 10:00 - 12:30
Pushing boundaries of research design: Future Making through (re)mixing creative methods
Please note that this event is independently organized by a WASP-HS researcher and not the WASP-HS Program Office.
While feminist approaches to technoscience are getting increasing attention, fields such as Artificial Intelligence, Human-Robot Interaction and Human-Computer Interaction are still male-dominated. Similarly, new technologies, from assistive robots to chatbots, are often imbued with the same intrinsic gender and ethnic stereotypes and biases present in our Western society. An increasing number of scholars have thus called for a feminist reboot, praising more ethical, sustainable and inclusive research practices and epistemologies in the hope of better technology.
Our workshop series “Girls just want to have Sc(AI)ence“ aims to foster knowledge and discussions on critical and feminist approaches to technology by engaging scholars working with AI from a variety of disciplines –from data science to art, political studies and philosophy, and invite them to reflect and imagine together how to use tools and theories from critical and feminist studies to implement more ethcial, sustainable and inclusive technology-related practices and research.
Practical Information
The workshop is arranged in a hybrid format on May 8, 2025:
– 10.00 to 10:45: Hybrid lecture on zoom – 11:00 to 12.30: On-site lecture and workshop, Lund, Sweden.
Invited speaker: Annette Markham, Professor at Department of Media and Culture at Utrecht University, Netherlands.
Program
10.00 – 10.45: Keynote by Annette Markham, Professor at Department of Media and Culture at Utrecht University, Netherlands: hybrid. How can we create methodological mindsets and sensibilities that give rise to alternate futures? How can critical perspectives, reflexivity, creativity, and data science co-mingle?
In this talk and workshop, Professor Markham focuses on how to dismantle and then reconfigure disciplinary traditions for research design. The mindset of remix is one way to consider how methods are not just tools, but make worlds. This talk encourages researchers to reflect on how all scientific practices embody fundamentally playful, inventive, and generative forms of interrogation and embracing less restrictive frameworks for engagement and analysis can form novel pathways through wicked polycrisis. To build the case for pushing boundaries, Markham draws on her work conducting algorithmic literacy through arts-based community engagement as well as her work conducting close level sociological analysis of human-AI interactions.
(Coffee break)
11.00-12:30: Workshop session: on-site.
Registration and more information
Please note that the exact location will be announced soon. Register for the workshop here.
Read more about the workshop here.

Exploring Human and Social Challenges in Data-Driven Life Sciences
2025-05-13 08:00 - 2025-05-15 17:00
The rapid development of data-driven approaches in the life sciences is transforming how we understand biological systems, develop treatments, and make healthcare decisions. While these advances promise insights and possibilities, they also raise questions about accountability, interpretability, and the changing relations between experts, technologies, and society.

These developments demand careful consideration of questions such as: How do we ensure technological advances align with scientific and societal values and needs? Who benefits from these transformations, and who might be left behind? How do we maintain human agency and ethical oversight in increasingly automated research processes? Addressing these challenges requires sustained dialogue between life sciences and humanities/social sciences perspectives.

Background
The workshop is part of a broader initiative funded by the Wallenberg Foundations to create collaborations between humanities/social sciences research and the data-driven life sciences. WASP-HS specializes in researching the human and societal aspects of AI and autonomous systems, including ethical, economic, social, and cultural implications. DDLS focuses on four strategic research areas: precision medicine and diagnostics, biodiversity and evolution, epidemiology and biology of infection, and cell and molecular biology.

The collaboration between these programs aims to increase understanding of how AI, autonomous systems, and data-driven methodologies in the life sciences shape both science and society, and aims to promote research that has a clear impact for both programs. This interdisciplinary approach is crucial for addressing the complex challenges at the intersection of technological advancement and societal needs.

Objectives
– Identify key societal challenges in data-driven life sciences– Promote dialogue between diverse research disciplines– Explore how technological advances influence science and society– Develop new collaborative research initiative
Target Participants
We welcome 25-30 participants from diverse backgrounds, including but not limited to:– Social scientists and humanities scholars– Life scientists– Healthcare professionals– Bioinformaticians and data scientists
Participants will be selected to ensure a balanced representation of disciplines and perspectives. Both individual researchers and small teams (2-3 people) from the same institution are welcome to apply. Early-career researchers are particularly encouraged to participate
Expected Outcomes
– A comprehensive mapping of key social and human challenges in data-driven life sciences– Formation of new interdisciplinary collaborations– Written documentation of insights and proposals
Practical Information
Dates: 13-15 May 2025Venue: SigtunastiftelsenCost: No registration fee. Travel and accommodation costs will be covered for accepted participantsApplication Deadline: 24 March 2025Please note that participants of this workshop will be selected based on this application. Applications will be assessed on a rolling basis..
How to Apply
Submit your application through https://www.lyyti.in/Sandpit_wokshop_2025 :Brief statement of motivation (max 500 words)Short bio highlighting relevant experienceOptional: Potential challenge or opportunity you’d like to explore
Travel and Accommodation
Accommodation will be arranged at SigtunastiftelsenTravel booking instructions will be provided upon acceptance
Contact
Ulrika.wallenquist@scilifelab.se

Webinar: The Digital Prior Restraint: Can Freedom of Expression Survive Upload Filters?
2025-06-02 15:00
Please note that this event is independently organized by a WASP-HS researcher and not the WASP-HS Program Office.
Across Europe, automated upload filters are increasingly used by social media platforms to screen content before it’s published—a practice that raises important questions about freedom of expression. These technologies are used as a measure to effectively limit the dissemination of terrorist content, of publications infringing copyright, among others.
Whether used voluntarily or mandated by law, these technologies can amount to a form of prior restraint, potentially limiting speech before it even reaches the public.
This webinar delves into the legal and human rights implications of upload filters under EU law. We’ll explore how both mandatory and voluntary filtering mechanisms are regulated by EU secondary legislation, and how these rules interact with fundamental rights protections. Drawing on European Court of Human Rights case law, the discussion will also highlight the procedural and institutional safeguards needed to prevent overreach, including the rights to a fair trial and to an effective remedy.
This webinar is jointly organised by Örebro University and the Robotics & AI Law Society (RAILS).
Speakers
Emmanuel Vargas Penagos, PhD researcher in AI and Law – Örebro University
Pietro Ortolani, Professor – Faculty of Law of Radboud University
Joan Barata Mir, Senior Legal Fellow – The Future of Free Speech
Silvia Caretta, Joint Doctoral Candidate in EU private law at Uppsala University & the WASP-HS Graduate School
Moderator
Martin Ebers
Read more about this webinar!

PhD Defense – Making Sense of Medical AI: The Making of AI Transparencies and Configuration of Expertise
2025-06-04
Charlotte Högberg defends her doctoral thesis, “Making Sense of Medical AI: The Making of AI Transparencies and Configuration of Expertise,” at Lund University (LTH).
Click here for a link to the event page at Lund University.
Abstract
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are increasingly researched and applied for medical knowledge discovery and to support or automate clinical decision-making. The aim of this thesis is to increase the knowledge on (1) how AI experts, radiologists, and standardizers make sense of AI, in the processes of medical AI development, clinical use and standardization, and (2) how this sensemaking contributes to configurations of AI transparencies and expertise in sociotechnical entanglements. Specifically, I study the research questions: How are AI experts that are involved in developing AI for medical purposes, and medical professionals, making sense of medical AI? How is AI transparency made sense of in standardizations? And how are AI transparencies made and expertise (re)configured in these processes and sociotechnical entanglements? In studying these questions, I focus on different actors’ practices and reasoning about: ground truthing and transparency in the development of medical AI, integrating and critically engaging with AI in clinical work, and standardization of AI transparency.
Theoretically, this thesis is situated in the fields of Science and Technology Studies (STS), sociology, information science, communication studies and organization studies. An epistemological underpinning of this thesis is the entanglement of social actions and technological and material artefacts. This entails an understanding of the research topic as involving knowledge-making phenomena where the social and the technical, the human and the non-human, are co-constituted in sociotechnical assemblages. Empirically, the research is conducted in three studies using different methods. In the studies, different actors are engaged through: interviews and observations with AI experts working with AI development for medicine and healthcare, a survey study of breast radiologists’ views regarding the integration of AI in breast cancer screening, and a practice-oriented document analysis focusing standard-making of AI transparency. In total, this thesis shows how medical AI is as much a sociotechnical matter as a technical or clinical endeavor. It highlights the complexity of making sense of AI, by different actors’ reasonings and practices and through different processes. Both the role of opacity mitigating practices, as well as the challenges of making AI transparent, are made visible. Moreover, this thesis shows the importance of empirical insights, and stakeholder and context–sensitive approaches to better understand how medical AI is made sense of and how expertise is reconfigured in the process.
Supervisor
Stefan Larsson, Associate Professor of Technology and Social Change at Lund University
Kristina Lång, Associate Professor in the Division of Diagnostic Radiology, Lund University
Katja de Vries, Associate Professor of Public Law at Uppsala Universitet
Opponent
Maja Hojer Bruun, Associate Professor at Aarhus University, Denmark.

Workshop: Girls Just Want to Have Sc(AI)ence – Part 3
2025-06-04 01:00 - 15:00
Please note that this event is independently organized by a WASP-HS researcher and not the WASP-HS Program Office.
Creating a research network to foster woman’s partcipation in technoscience.
Topic: We Should All Be Feminists in Software Engineering
Practical Information
The workshop is arranged in a hybrid format on June 4, 2025:
– 13.00 – 14.00: Hybrid lecture on zoom.– 14.15 to 15.00 On-site lecture plus workshop, Lund Sweden.
Invited speaker: Letizia Jaccheri – Professor of Computer Science,Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
Registration and more information
Register for the workshop here!
Abstract
Software engineering is a paradigm of human activities that incorporates our problem-solving capabilities, cognitive aspects, and social interaction. Software is an infrastructure of all industries and societies around the world, serving global users of all genders. However, there is a current gender gap in both the development and operations of software products and services. In 2023, internet users reached 5.3 billion, constituting 65.7% of the world population. About 70% of males and 63% of females globally use the internet, but merely 5.17% of the worldwide software developer population (27 millions) is comprised of women.

Gender studies is a growing research topic in software engineering as it re-lates to the diversity and inclusion issues for performing and healthy teamwork. Several studies have been devoted to understanding the relation between gender and software engineering.
In the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and increasing automation in software industry, the role of humans is even more emphasized across age, culture and gender. However, the engagement of genders in Software Engineering is not uniform. It is important to address the gender gap in software engineering urgently when new AI intensive software systems are being created because there is a risk that AI generated software perpetuates sexist assumptions and ideologies.

Feminism can be defined as both a theoretical perspective and a social move-ment aiming to diminish and ultimately eliminate sexist inequality and oppres-sion. The concept of intersectionality explores the interconnectedness of social differences, including race, gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality, and nationality. Feminism draws attention to the systemic power dynamics emerging from the interaction of various dimensions of social difference across individual, institu-tional, cultural, and societal spheres of influence.

The goal of this lecture is to learn about software engineering and gender research, and to discuss the state of the art about gender issues in core topics of software engineering. The lecture will provide participants with a clear definition and understanding of Software Engineering and gender and explain the origins and historical context that led to the emergence of this field. The intended audience for the lecture includes researchers, software engi-neers, policy-makers, educators as well as anyone who is interested in the inter-section of technology and social issues.

This work is partially supported by the EUGAIN COST Action CA19122 – European Network for Gender Balance in Informatics.

PhD Defense – Contextual Intelligence: Leveraging AI for Targeted Marketing
2025-06-05 10:00 - 12:00
Emil Häglund defends his doctoral thesis, Contextual Intelligence: Leveraging AI for Targeted Marketing, at Umeå University.
Click here for a link to the event page at Umeå University
Abstract
As privacy concerns increase and regulation against tracking-based advertising tightens, contextual advertising, which targets ads based on webpage content rather than personal data, offers a compelling alternative. The shift towards this alternative form of ad targeting is gaining momentum thanks to advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), which significantly improve the ability to interpret and categorize online content. This thesis explores how AI can interpret online contexts and leverage them for targeted, privacy-conscious marketing. A key contribution is the development of methods for extracting opinions from text and structuring them into “opinion units”, leveraging the power and versatility of large language models. Opinion units consist of concise, context-rich excerpts that capture individual opinions, paired with sentiment metadata. The proposed methods demonstrate high accuracy in opinion extraction and show promise for downstream applications. For instance, in opinion search and topic modeling of customer reviews, the compactness and distinctness of opinion units enhance retrieval precision and produce more coherent and interpretable groupings of opinions. This enables the identification of specific aspects driving customer satisfaction, providing insights for product development and targeted marketing. Marketing experiments conducted in this thesis reveal how media contexts influence advertising perceptions. The findings demonstrate that engaging content and the credibility of website sources create a spillover effect, enhancing the effectiveness of associated ads. Regarding brand safety—ensuring ads do not appear in brand-damaging contexts—the results suggest that proximity to negative news articles alone is not directly harmful. However, marketers face increased risks when the advertised message is associated with a negative context. To mitigate these risks, AI tools can be used to detect and avoid potentially unsafe online environments. Finally, the thesis offers guidance on AI-driven ad targeting by outlining the trade-offs between contextual and personalized strategies, as well as manual versus automated methods. The discussion considers key factors such as marketing objectives, data availability, and ethical considerations alongside regulatory requirements. The findings serve as a foundation for making well-informed, strategic choices in the future of advertising targeting.
Supervisor
Johanna Björklund, Associate Professor at Umeå University
Opponent
Bernard Jansen, Professor at Qatar Computing Research Institute.

AI and Society: Fresh Perspectives from PhD Graduates
2025-06-09 15:00 - 16:00
Newly minted PhD students from the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program – Humanity and Society Graduate School discuss their insights into the implications and entanglements of AI for society and humanity.
Program
Empathy and Manipulation VerificationAndreas Brännström, Umeå University
Democratic Subjects and Datafied WelfarePetter Falk, Karlstad University
Sensemaking and Transparency of Medical AICharlotte Högberg, Lund University
Neoliberal Social Media Fuels Far-RightPasko Kisić-Merino, Lund University
Proactive Balancing: Law and AIMaksymilian M. Kuźmicz, Stockholm University
The event will take place online over Zoom on June 9 at 15-16. All are welcome and the event will be in English.
Register.

PhD Defense – AI Transparency in Trustworthy AI: From Metaphor to Governance Tool in EU Technology Regulation
2025-06-10
Katarzyna Söderlund defends her doctoral thesis, “AI Transparency in Trustworthy AI: From Metaphor to Governance Tool in EU Technology Regulation,” at Lund University (LTH).
Abstract
Transparency has emerged as a fundamental component of ethical AI guidelines around the world. In the European Union (EU), it is recognised as one of the core principles for fostering Trustworthy AI, and serves as a cornerstone in building an ecosystem of trust within the AI governance framework.
However, to support these ambitious policy objectives, the concept of transparency must be translated into clearly defined and implementable measures. Thus, by employing a combination of legal-doctrinal and socio-legal approaches, this compilation thesis aims to contribute to a clarified understanding of the concept of AI transparency in the EU’s AI governance discourses. I examine the concept of AI transparency across four levels of abstraction: as a stand-alone objective, as a governance ideal, as a governance tool, and as a ‘floating signifier’. Focusing in particular on AI transparency as a governance ideal and as a governance tool in relation to the EU’s policymaking objective of Trustworthy AI, I analyse how AI transparency has been conceptualised, designed, and implemented for two stakeholder groups — individuals and oversight bodies — within the governance frameworks of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Digital Services Act (DSA), and the Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA).
The main argument advanced in the thesis is that while AI transparency directed at individuals (understood as data subjects, service recipients, and natural persons) remains relevant, it is the effectiveness of oversight-oriented AI transparency that is crucial to the enforcement of the EU technology regulation and is, ultimately, foundational in the EU’s pursuit of Trustworthy AI. Although transparency is central to the EU’s vision for Trustworthy AI, its effectiveness depends on how legal obligations are interpreted, implemented, and enforced in practice.
Opponent
Associate Professor Lena Enqvist

Joint Summer School on Resilience and Regulation
2025-06-23 08:00 - 2025-06-27 17:00
Registration is closed.
About the Event
Join us for the Joint Summer School on Resilience and Regulation, arranged by the WASP Research Arenas Robotics, Public Safety, Media & Language, and Operational Data, as well as WASP-HS.
This year’s theme—Resilience and Regulation—centers on building safe and robust AI-driven systems while addressing the legal and regulatory frameworks shaping AI and autonomy. The summer school welcomes PhD students from various disciplines, fostering interdisciplinary discussions on the challenges and opportunities in developing responsible and resilient autonomous technologies.
The program will feature a mix of lectures, hands-on technical sessions, workshops and student presentations, with embedded discussions on regulatory and legal aspects across all tracks. Topics included in the tracks will be shared shortly. Beyond the academic experience, the Summer School offers engaging social activities and a conference dinner.
This Summer School is a unique opportunity to explore your research at the intersection of technology, regulation and resilience, while connecting with peers from WASP and WASP-HS.
Target Groups
The main target group from WASP Graduate School is Class 2024, however, students from other classes are more than welcome to attend.
All WASP-HS graduate students are expected to attend.
There is a limited number of seats so please register as soon as possible. There will be a waiting list in case of high demand.
Accommodation
During this week, Norrköping is hosting SM-veckan (a huge sports event). Accommodation is provided for all WASP-HS PhD students at Scandic Norrköping City. We suggest that you book your train tickets to Norrköping as soon as you get a confirmation of your participation.

Read more on the WASP website.

Synthetic Data: Representation and/vs Representativeness
2025-08-19 08:00 - 17:00
Please note that this event is independently organized by a WASP-HS researcher and not the WASP-HS Program Office.
Synthetic data promises to address three key concerns for data-driven technologies: sparsity, privacy, and bias or lack of diversity. This workshop will interrogate the promise of creating better, more diverse, more representative datasets, by critically examining how data are understood to be “representative” in different senses, for example, statistically, through stereotype, or more qualitative and individual depictions of identity and other qualities. We invite participation from anyone interested in the broad questions of what it means to “represent” things and people in data. To ground the event across our various disciplines and practices, we ask you to submit a short (1-2 page) position statement on the topic of data “representation” in your context. Accepted submissions will be shared with all participants via the workshop website before the event, allowing participants to introduce themselves to each other and for asynchronous discussions of their position papers and virtual network building from the start.
Location
Aarhus 2025 Computing [X] Crisis Conference
Important Dates
Submissions due – 8 June, 2025
Notification of Acceptance – 13 June, 2025
Workshop – 18 or 19 August, 2025 (TBC)
Submission information
Submissions should be 1-2 A4 pages, not including references. We welcome alternative formats like artistic works, design fictions, or policy statements. Please contact us to discuss how best to submit alternative formats. Submit position papers via email to synthetic-data-workshop@protonmail.com, following the template below:
SUBJECT LINE: Aarhus2025 Synthetic Data Represent – Submissions
BODY:
Name – [name]
Affiliation – [affiliation]
Pronouns – [Optionally, specify which pronouns you would like organizers to
use for you when discussing your submission]
Other information – [Optionally, include anything else you would like
organizers to know, for example accessibility requirements]

PhD Defence: Health Data Governance in the Age of Digital Health: Legal Approaches of the EU and China
2025-09-05 10:00 - 13:00
Zhicheng He defends his doctoral thesis, “Health Data Governance in the Age of Digital Health: Legal Approaches of the EU and China” at Stockholm University.
See event page.
Abstract
This dissertation explores how legal frameworks in the EU and China respond to the growing tension between the use of health data and the protection of privacy in the digital health era. As technologies such as AI, wearable devices, and health-monitoring sensors increasingly reshape the delivery of care, legal systems face mounting pressure to support data-driven innovation while upholding individual rights. Through a comparative legal analysis of key instruments such as the EU’s GDPR, European Health Data Space (EHDS) Regulation, and China’s Personal Information Protection Law, the study examines how each jurisdiction regulates health data, defines the legal bases for its use, and integrates privacy-enhancing technologies like anonymisation. In doing so, it aims to generate insights into how law can address the shared global challenge posed by the dual demands of innovation and privacy in a society striving for better health.
See full thesis.
Supervisor
Zamboni, Mauro, ProfessorGreenstein, Stanley, Associate ProfessorKampel, Martin, Doctor
Opponent
Tuomas Pöysti, former Chancellor of Justice, Finland

Webinar with Patrick Hynes about HAI
2025-09-16 16:30 - 17:30
Welcome to an engaging seminar featuring Patrick Hynes, Senior Manager of Research Communities at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI). Patrick will present an overview of HAI’s mission and vision, and explore in detail its activities across research, education, and policy.
The discussion will offer examples of funded research projects, showcase some of HAI’s policy briefings, and spotlight some of the multi-stakeholder workshops and conferences that HAI has held in order to address the pressing challenges and opportunities posed by the extraordinary advances witnessed in AI.
The seminar is a fantastic opportunity for WASP-HS PhD students interested in upcoming postdoc opportunities at Stanford University.
Read more about HAI.

Registration
Please register below no later than September 14 to attend the webinar. A zoom link will be sent to all who have registered.

PhD Defense: Fact and Ideology in the Machine: Modelling Knowledge and Belief in Neural Models from Text
2025-09-17 09:00 - 12:00
Denitsa Saynova defends her doctoral thesis, “Fact and Ideology in the Machine: Modelling Knowledge and Belief in Neural Models from Text” on September 17 at Chalmers University of Technology.
See event page.
Abstract
This thesis explores questions of knowledge, language, and neural network models. Motivated by an increasing need for insight into complex political and social science phenomena, we study how methods within natural language processing (NLP) can help us gain such insight. With a particular focus on a model’s knowledge, how it is structured, and how we can access and assess it, we study two important aspects of NLP models.
First, we investigate their capabilities and limitations, focusing on how they can capture political and social signals. We use embedding models to capture and reveal distinctions in policy and ideology in Swedish political parties, discussing the strengths and drawbacks of the approach. We also investigate the presence of more complex social knowledge in large pre-trained language models. We prompt models to produce synthetic samples of responses to social science experiments and access if effects calculated from the synthetic data can be used to predict a study’s replicability. A central limitation we find in these studies is the lack of robustness, which we explore in depth by studying what influences model consistency in a more simplified setting, namely, recalling facts.
Second, we aim to bridge the gap between the model and the domain expert by developing and improving interpretability insights of model behaviour. We develop a method for aggregating class-level explanations for a text classifier and demonstrate its utility in the context of Swedish political texts. We also develop the understanding of how models store and access factual information. We propose a taxonomy of possible language model behaviours for fact completion and, based on our novel testing data set, examine internal knowledge structures using established mechanistic interpretability methods.
See full thesis.
Supervisors
Opponent
Dirk Hovy, Professor, Bocconi University

PhD Defence: Online Content Moderation: The Regulatory Continuum from EU Regulation to Platform Self-Regulation
2025-09-26 10:15 - 17:00
Silvia A. Carretta defends her doctoral thesis, “Online Content Moderation: The Regulatory Continuum from EU Regulation to Platform Self-Regulation” on September 26 at Uppsala University.
See event page.
Abstract
In today’s digital landscape, users generate a staggering amount of content every minute. Some of this content poses serious legal challenges, including terrorist propaganda, copyright-infringing works, hate speech and disinformation. Online platforms are under growing pressure to moderate such content. They must comply with legal obligations to remove illegal content or risk liability, while remaining free to exercise discretion in enforcing private moderation policies to restrict lawful content they deem incompatible with their Terms and Conditions. This dual role raises pressing legal and societal questions about the balance between public regulation and the growing influence of private actors in governing online speech.
This book investigates how content moderation is regulated within the European Digital Single Market. While public regulation has been widely debated, there is a lack of insight into how the public and private regulatory spheres interact in this context. The study frames the issue within two complementary dimensions: the Regulation “of” platforms, involving binding legislative acts which mandate the removal of illegal content (most notably the Digital Services Act), and the Regulation “by” platforms, private governance mechanisms comprising co-regulatory initiatives beyond state-mandated obligations, self-regulation practices, and private rule-making embedded in online platforms’ Terms and Conditions.
The analysis is structured around the concept of a regulatory continuum and follows a theoretical classification of three modes of regulation: regulation stricto sensu, co-regulation and self-regulation. It is a pioneering study that systematically maps policy variables and governance instruments across each mode. Through selected case studies of major online platforms, the study innovatively examines how public and private regulatory frameworks interact, overlap and sometimes conflict in shaping platform and content governance across the regulatory continuum.
A timely and rigorous analysis, this study critically reflects on the Digital Services Act’s transformative impact on platform accountability and digital governance. It demonstrates that the two dimensions – Regulation “of” platforms and Regulation “by” platforms – should not be viewed as a dichotomy between public and private governance but as part of a dynamic, multi-actor regulatory process in the governance of the digital landscape.
See full thesis.
Supervisors
Sandra Friberg, Associate ProfessorAnna-Sara Lind, ProfessorMagnus Strand, Associate Professor
Opponent
Mika Viljanen, Professor

Book Launch for How That Robot Made Me Feel
2025-10-09 10:00 - 11:00
Whether robots, or the artificial intelligence (AI) that powers them, can feel emotions is a topic of ongoing debate. It is a familiar theme in science fiction and a frequent headline in tech development. Just as important is the question: How do we humans emotionally respond to robots? And how do those responses influence the way robots are designed today?
The book “How That Robot Made Me Feel” is an edited collection that explores what emotions we have when encountering robots, how we react emotionally to them in different contexts, and why these emotional responses are so important.

Do robots, or the AI that is driving them, have emotions? That is a hotly debated topic—both in science fiction, where such assertions are a staple of the narrative, and in tech development, where it often makes headlines. But what about how we humans emotionally respond to robots? Are our emotional responses any less important when it comes to how the robots we encounter today are designed? In How That Robot Made Me Feel, Ericka Johnson asks the authors in this collection to critically examine our emotional and affective responses to robots, and what such an examination would do to the way roboticists use (or toy with) our emotions in their design decisions.
The narrative arc of this anthology follows the question of just whose emotions are being engaged through robotic interactions, why, and for what design ends. Of course, the answer is that it is our emotions that are interesting. And these emotions are not universal, despite the historically universalist paradigm of AI and how robotic emotions work. Emotions are contingent, to borrow a commonly used phrase in feminist technoscience. They are placed in space, time, and cultural context. And understanding how they are produced and engaged with will help clarify many of the political aspects of robotic interaction that are currently concealed by the shiny and allegedly neutral surfaces of robots.

The book launch takes place on October 9 at 10:00-11:00 in the KAW Lounge at Stockholm School of Economics. Lolanda Leite, Royal Institute of Technology, will introduce the book and contributing authors will be present for discussions over coffee and cake.
Welcome!

Registration
Please register below to attend the book launch.
